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Show WILLIAM PATTERiSOH WHITE ' Cirn by iJXWW'r Little Brovm 4oJ cbmmy J MrR, (OOU tinned from nnr lnf None) Soon they heard a scramble and n npla.vh In the creek. Dan Sllke was cominK back Sllke Jammed his Winchester Into one of the empty scabbards and untied un-tied tho bridl rein of the horses. Holding tho reins In one hand, he gripped a saddle horn and slmul-j slmul-j taneously stuck toe in .itlrrup. Bn-I Bn-I sued then a mighty re.ik of saddle I leather, a snort and Sllke found hlm-, hlm-, sett on his hack" on the pround with on foot hlfcher than his head A nun barrel smote him smartly over the ear, When Sllke emerged Into the full , possession of his senses, he was tho most disgusted man In the territory. ' Do you feel like admitting th;it the district attorney helped vou break Jail"" asked Filly "Nothln' to say." declared Pin Slike. the unrepentant, They found the body of the man with Ills face in tho wnter. Billy dragged out thg body and turned it on Its back. "This feller aint Jack Murray." nied 1he perplexed Mr. WIngO. It's Skinny Shlndle. Where's Jack Mur-ray'"' Mur-ray'"' They left Skinny Shlndle lylnj? beside be-side (ho littb- creek and went to the other dead man beside the branding brand-ing fire Billy turned the dead man face upward up-ward He whistled. "Here's an odd number. This feller Is Simon Keel-foot's Keel-foot's foreman, Conlev. I'd sure like to know why he's riding for the T U." Came then n puncher riding on his occasions. "I know him," said Dawnn. "C'mon, Tommy It's m-. Johnny Dawson." '"Lo. Johnny.'' Tommy said, with a straight mouth. "Did thut man with his arms tied kill Daley?" "Is that his name"' asked Hilly, flicking his thumb toward the dead man. 'Jim Daley," said Tnmmv. "Did he?" "Sure. I killed him." Slike truculently trucu-lently answered the question. "This is sure hard on Daley." ph-ierved ph-ierved Tommy. He told mo he came north for his health." North "Yeah, couldn't stand the climate . m Arizona, ho said." amplified Tom-i Tom-i my. "He only Joined tho outfit last week. Let's go seo if I know the i other feller." "Sure, I know him." declared Tommy, Tom-my, after one look at the dead fare "He's named Brlndley been with the Horseshoe since February." Toward dawn next day the horses i "bowed signs of tiring. "Mine won t last another five miles," .said Johnnj Dawson. They were making camp when Billy stopped to examine a butcher knife taken from Sllke. He caught his ireath. On the handle of tho butcher '.nlfo the letters T W were cut deep ::ito tho wood. How many butcher knives did you take from Walton's?" he demanded. One." replied Sllke. "Why, hell's bells!" exclaimed Billy, "then you didn't kill Rafe Tuckle-ton Tuckle-ton " i ' First I knew he was dead." Sllke said thoughtfully. ' As a rule. I don't kill my customers." "She said he only took one knife." j Billy told himself stupidly. He was no nearer the solution of I tho Tuckleton murder. His theory I that Sllke had killed Tuckleton was I smashed to smithereens by the discovery dis-covery of the Walton butcher k mo rn 3UK0 s bootleg, unless 5miko nan taken two knives But Sllke had not taken two knives Early one morning several days latei the sheriff pro tern of Crocker county was roused by rapplngs on the office door Shotgun Shlllnian did not open tho front door He went round the back way with bis gun in his hand and, on circling the house, he found at tho front door a hatless Dan Sllke flat on hie back in the dust, tied hand and foot, and with a gag in his mouth. Later In the day Guerilla Melody i called on Nate Samson, weed the storekeeper several apparently aimless aim-less questions and leafed through the cutlery pages of Nate's hardware catalog. Still later In the day Johnny Dawson rode out of (Jolden Bar. Only two peoplo besides himself knew that ho was bound for the railroad and telegraph line CHAPTER XVII. "There's a lot of this stuff I don I understand," said Guerilla Melody after aft-er DaWSOn'S return. Why did Conies go south? Conley ain't committed any crime round here that 1 know of " I'm betung he did alia same." said Billy. 'Or else why was ho so particular partic-ular to tell those t U bos he was from Arizona?" Guerilla looked bewildered. "What did CJonloy have against Tip 1 don't know." said Billy. "But mavbo friend Simon an tell us some-thin' some-thin' " Simon P.eelfoot. riding the range that day, met a strand horseman Did Simon know where Park Valley wa Simon knew. "Shucks," said the slrayman. "Here's a envelope and a pencil. Make a H'l map like, will you?" "Here," said Simon holding out the envelope. "This ought to fix you up." "To hlfl horror, the well known voice of Billy wingo at his bark It ought io." said Billy Wingo. "Kindly clasp' your hands over your bat ." "You oughtn't to have given him that envelope," Billy admonished the! Slrayman "It has the confession In1 It." j Simon stirred uneasily on his saddle, j Confession! Whose confession? Ho ro-called ro-called that thero had been several fold-1 ed sheets of paper In tho envelope. Of course, Simon could not know that these sheets were white Innocent oft either handwriting or printing. Billy took tho envelope and unfolded unfold-ed the sheets It was apparent to Heel-foot Heel-foot that he was refreshing big memory mem-ory "Simon." Billy said, glancing up suddenly. sud-denly. ' win did Conley go south?" "I I dunno!" 'Yes, you do." Billy insisted, striking strik-ing the sheets of paper with his fist. "We found Conli-y He was w'orking for the T l when he died." "I told him not to go." muttered Simon Pveelfoot. "Conley talked before ho died," said Billy, ''He told me some interesting things about himself and yon " Hers Billy .stuffed the sheets of paper Into his trousers pocket and gripped Simon by the throat. "You damned murderer, what did you kill him for?" At the fierce clutch of Billy's fingers. fin-gers. Simon's shaking lgs refused to uphold him longer. He fell on his knees. -I I didn't kill him'" he splut tered. "He was dead when " ' You lie! Conley said so! You tried to throw the blame on me by leaving behind Bllij-'a voice trailed off Into silence "That was Conley's Idea:" screamed the panicky Reelfoot. "He got the hat I SB FOUND DAN SLIKE FTVT ON HIS BACK IN THE DUST. TIED HAND AND FOOT band and quirt one day when nobody was in tho office Conley shot him, too!" "Conley shot him too. huh?" "Ho was gonna squeal! He was gonna get mo mixed Into that Walton murder! They told me he was! He h- nulled first. I tell you' I was drunk' I didn't know what I was doing! Oh, my Gawd!" Billy flung tho groveling Simon from him. "This ought to be enough for you " That evening there was another In the Golden Bur calaboose. "If tbev I keep on coming In like this," said Shotgun Shlllnian to Riley Tyler, "we'll have to build an addition to the Jail." "What next0" asked Guerilla Melody. Mel-ody. "With Tip's murder settled and knowin' who killed Tuckleston " "Certainly doesn't help us any with the stage hold up," cut In Billy "Before "Be-fore we spring the Joke in the Tuckleston Tuckles-ton deal, I've got to do a H'l more work on tho hold up." A convivial voice In the sireet broke into boisterous song Who's that?" a-sked Billy. "It's Jerry Fern." said Guerilla indifferently in-differently "He's drunk again. Aunt died, left him money Big legacy. Must have been for Crafty to lend him money mon-ey to play with." ' Do "'ii know Craft;, s been lending money to Jerry'?" "Didn't I see him wllh my own eyes more thnn once" "Do you think you can get Jerry fYrn in here and make him drunk" 1 1 11 make him drunk.' Guerilla said earnestly, "or there ain't a drop of virtue In Old Crow." Guerilla flipped on his hat and departed. de-parted. Vou cani't toll me that infernal Bill ingo ain't at the bottom of all this bueltieas!" snarled Felix Craft "Guerilla "Guer-illa Melody and that Dawson friend of Ihla didn't got Sllke by themselves any u. ore than I did " AIHI UMT( vw. mitt " - thought Bill didn't have an brains." S ,m Lardor grieved bitterly. 1 didn't." avowed the district at-j torney. "I always knew " The door flew open, and Jerry Fern. I wild-eyed with liquor, tumbled into the room. The stage driver rolled Straight to Felix Craft and pawed him "Fiif-Fellx," he babbled I wan' Bh uh -Shorn m on - money ! " The furious Felix shook him off. But Pern ius nothing If not persistent. persist-ent. The prinnlnir faces of Guerilla Melody, Mel-ody, Johnny DaWSOn, Shotgun find Riley looked In through the open doorway. door-way. "om' along. Jerry," railed Guerilla j . been hunting you all over." I "I wuh-wuh-wan' shush-shome j mum-money," gargled Jerrv. "I wuh-' wuh-' wan' mummoney you promised me "I'll give you what you deserve." ,'lhero was cream and butter In the gambler's voice, but there was grlrdy ; menace In his reatless eyes. 'Gug-guvo mum-me more than you gug-guve mu-me bu-b'fore''" "Yes, yee. C'mon!" "Whuwant mum-money now!" yclp-ed yclp-ed the contumacious Jerry, "or I'll ! pup-put you In Jail" Continued In Our Next LiHoe |